A Chinese orphan Lin Chuanxiu, whose parents died of AIDS, stares at the ground outside the elementary school of Gongmin Township, 2005 in Zizhong of Sichuan Province, southwest China. (China Photos/Getty Images)

On July 15, 2005 the meeting on AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) Prevention in Beijing city revealed that the current trend in the spread of AIDS in Beijing is moving from high-risk groups to the general public.

As reported by Beijing Evening News, at the end of May 31, 2005, the total number of those infected and existing AIDS patients was 2,414, growing at an average rate of 40.6 percent annually. The number of those infected was 2,145 and of current AIDS patients 269, which increased by 67.9 percent and 54.5 percent, respectively, from the same period of last year.

Among the people infected with AIDS in Beijing, 461 were registered residents of Beijing, accounting for 17.2 percent of the total number. Most of them were young and middle-aged people, and 402 of them were between 15 and 45 years old. The frequency of AIDS infection for males was four times higher than that for females.

Jin Dapeng, director of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, said that this is a period of rapid growth in AIDS cases in Beijing and the number of people infected with the AIDS virus is steadily increasing. He said this is mainly because the dangerous factors causing the spread of AIDS are hard to eliminate in a longer period of time.

Jin said that the primary ways of AIDS infection of Beijing residents are injected-drug use and sexual contact. Additionally, blood collection and tainted supplies accounts for a large proportion of AIDS infections among the floating population.

Because of societal discrimination, fear, and the concealment of high-risk behaviors such as drug abuse, prostitution and homosexuality, the number of AIDS-infected individuals and patients that the Beijing disease control districts can identify and control is still very limited.

The high-risk groups include patients of sexually transmitted diseases, male homosexuals, drug addicts, immigrant laborers in large-scale construction sites, and those living in areas with floating populations.

Experts estimate that the number of people in China being infected with AIDS will reach 10 million by the year 2010.